Anyway. Yeah frankly I wish AV would just say "I'm not a doctor" when injured players come up and leave it at that. He's got a long history of questioning players efforts when they are hurt and while some could be justifiably questioned at the time (Hodgson for example) too many times it has become obvious that the diagnosis was wrong or what have you.

In this case I am just hoping AV is trying to piss Kesler off.. he seems to thrive on anger and spite.

As for the Luongo stuff.. I haven't watched/listened to any of it (and I don't speak French) but all of the articles coming out have holes you could drive a truck through.. by no means is it clear that Roberto wants to be traded as opposed to say, wanting a resolution of the goaltending situatation (ie. if I'm starting here next year, great; if I'm starting somewhere else that's good too) which we all knew already. Anyway there could be a million angles to this as Topper put forward..

I keep hearing that Kesler wants AV to stay, so their cannot be too much hate in that particular love/hate relationship.

I still think AV has no clue though how to coach in the playoffs. Very little adjustment seems to be made on the playoffs, even though the refs bring out the pre-season "let's make it up as we go along" rulebook.

Tciso wrote:I still think AV has no clue though how to coach in the playoffs. Very little adjustment seems to be made on the playoffs, even though the refs bring out the pre-season "let's make it up as we go along" rulebook.

The guy helped us get to the Stanley Cup finals a year ago. He made some adjustments along the way I would think.

And how exactly do you adjust for injuries? Not to mention goaltending performances of a lifetime?

Tciso wrote:I still think AV has no clue though how to coach in the playoffs. Very little adjustment seems to be made on the playoffs, even though the refs bring out the pre-season "let's make it up as we go along" rulebook.

The guy helped us get to the Stanley Cup finals a year ago. He made some adjustments along the way I would think.

And how exactly do you adjust for injuries? Not to mention goaltending performances of a lifetime?

Oh Aaron... please lets not re-hash the LACK of adjustments AV has in his arsnial.

We almost got knocked out of the first round after being up 3 nodda because AV was seemingly unable to adjust to Quenneville's adjustments.... The Boston series, injuries and all... AV simply had no answers. AV coaches like he's on train rails. If it doesn't work keep trying and hope like hell it eventually does.

ODB wrote:We almost got knocked out of the first round after being up 3 nodda because AV was seemingly unable to adjust to Quenneville's adjustments.... The Boston series, injuries and all... AV simply had no answers. AV coaches like he's on train rails. If it doesn't work keep trying and hope like hell it eventually does.

But we did beat Chicago and there have been suggestions by our own very reliable insider that there may have been other reasons for the Canucks hiccup there.

Last year when the Canucks played their game they were borderline dominant. For several reasons, that have been talked about at length, they were unable to do this during the finals.

Yet we still got to one game of winning the cup. I think Av has the ability to help get us back there and get that 16th win. However if the players no longer want to, or appear as if they no longer believe in what AV is preaching it's going to be time for him to go.

Momentum plays such a key role in the playoffs and it can be almost impossible to control from a coaching standpoint. I think coaches get too much credit for wins and too much blame for losses. As a player I've never felt as if it were one of my coaches fault for losing but rather our inability to consistently execute what he has taught us!

ODB wrote: Oh Aaron... please lets not re-hash the LACK of adjustments AV has in his arsnial.

....first he's a cunt.

Now an arsnial?

What next?

Honestly though... I can't think of a single example when the Canucks were being thwarted and AV made adjustments leading to a noticeable change in the outcome.

The mantra was play whistle to whistle and we’ll kill’em on the power play. Hey why not, we had the best PP in the game. Chara and co made our power play their bitch. They made our offence their bitch period and either AV couldn’t come up with the necessary adjustments or he did and the players refused to listen to him. I highly doubt it was the latter.

It happens all the time, especially in the playoffs. Teams don’t only make adjustments game to game but they do it period to period. The break down the video, see what their opponents are doing and devise a plan to get past it. Tampa lights Boston up and we drink the Thomas was unbeatable kool-aid. You have to be able to adjust your systems to counter your opponent. AV seems to have tunnel vision. If I’m wrong I’d appreciate it if someone could cite examples because I got none. The only thing I can come up with is examples where team sticks to the plan to a fault...

ODB wrote:Honestly though... I can't think of a single example when the Canucks were being thwarted and AV made adjustments leading to a noticeable change in the outcome.

The mantra was play whistle to whistle and we’ll kill’em on the power play. Hey why not, we had the best PP in the game. Chara and co made our power play their bitch. They made our offence their bitch period and either AV couldn’t come up with the necessary adjustments or he did and the players refused to listen to him. I highly doubt it was the latter.

It happens all the time, especially in the playoffs. Teams don’t only make adjustments game to game but they do it period to period. The break down the video, see what their opponents are doing and devise a plan to get past it. Tampa lights Boston up and we drink the Thomas was unbeatable kool-aid. You have to be able to adjust your systems to counter your opponent. AV seems to have tunnel vision. If I’m wrong I’d appreciate it if someone could cite examples because I got none. The only thing I can come up with is examples where team sticks to the plan to a fault...

I think AV does "stick to the process" too much sometimes, however you would have to admit that his plan for situational ice time is among the most specific in the league. The offensive players that are producing the most chances get the majority of the offensive draws - the defensive pair that is limiting opponent's chances the best gets the defensive draws, extensive line matching, and changing personnel on lines and pairings when they are not having success. I would call those examples of AV "adjusting".

I was going to post something pro-AV extension. I think his ability to adapt his style (albeit not quickly enough sometimes in the playoffs) is a plus and his results speak for themselves.

Then the guy opens his mouth end let the carpet bombing begin. Either this is one crazy ploy by management to flush the fowl out of the grass, or his comments about Luongo seem very loose cannon and Gillis can't be pleased. Pile that on with Yzerman going out on radio hinting that Luongo may not be on his target package (love when media take his vague words and twist it to say he doesn't want Luongo), and the goalie trade situation doesn't look so rosy. So much for dreaming about Malone and Connelly.. Then again, when everyone is getting fitted for their new Maple Leafs Luongo jerseys, Gillis may opt for door 3 and who knows what's behind that one.

Likewise though with his Kesler comments. Either Vigneault is using some esoteric psychological motivation technique with Kes, or this was another needless broadside that apprently neither player nor agent appreciated. Who knows?

I take Tony Gallagher's diatribes with a roadblock-sized grain of salt, but pile that one with everything else that's come out regarding Vigneault and I'm a lot less comfy going ahead than I was yesterday.

The other key is something I think Botch wrote about Vigenault's comments regarding the 'debates' in team management in terms of playing style. Seems he quite likes the team LA has. Don't know if that necessarily translates into liking how they play, but methinks there will be more players like Kassian in the future and players like Raymond may as well look for employment in Europe. Say what you will about how the coaching staff seemingly botched things up going into the playoffs, but the fact that Vigenault has been able to do a makeover from utterly defense-first-and-only to almost-run-and-gun speaks to his adaptability from a season-to-season standpoint which makes me comfortable going into next season with Vigneault coaching. game to game and period to period? We'll see, I guess.

Now if somebody in their media relations department would do their freakin job and give this guy is arcs of fire before he talks with the media...